By Tom Walker
Barabbas was a nationalist and a freedom fighter – an insurrectionist who fought for Israel to drive out the Romans, for many Jews believed that only God was legitimately allowed to rule over Israel. The pagans needed to be expelled, even if brutal force was needed. His fellow countrymen excused his violence and murders if that was what it took to achieve glory for God and for their homeland. They could not help but admire a man who, for his homeland, would risk his life to capture and execution by the enemy. In the process, they chose Barabbas over Jesus. Jesus was seen as a disgrace.
Jesus Christ, in his own right, was a sensation throughout Israel. Multitudes went to him for healing, and in the process, they heard him preach the Kingdom of God and the need for righteousness and holy living to enter within it. They wanted to take Jesus by force to be king (John 6:14-15) right after he had fed 5,000 using five small barley loaves and two fish. (Hey, that means Jesus has the power to feed an army!) Jesus would not have it, and he slipped away. The Kingdom of God he preached is spiritual and entirely different from what the crowd had in mind – a physical kingdom ruled by the Messiah with the pagans expelled. Furthermore, changing their lives to the holy living Jesus required was not interesting to them.
The Pharisees feared the worst from Jesus. “If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation!” (John 11:48) Panic had set in. They plotted to kill him, before the catastrophe they had feared occurred. Earlier, they tried planting conspiracy theories into the minds of the people to discredit, ridicule, and stop Jesus. Jesus, they said, believes we should pay taxes to the Romans! Jesus, they said, casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub (i.e. The Prince of Demons)! Jesus, they said, acts unlawfully, for he heals on the Sabbath! Jesus, they said, unlawfully doesn’t wash his hands before he eats grain from the fields! Jesus, they said, eats with sinners! Jesus, they said, associates with the (hated) tax collectors. Jesus, they said, associates with the (hated) Samaritans. Jesus on the cross, they said, can save others but he can’t save himself. Jesus’ body, they said, was stolen by his disciples.
Real damage occurred. Some villages rejected Jesus’ disciples, who then had to “shake the dust off their feet” when leaving. In other places Jesus performed only a few miracles because of rejection and pervasive unbelief in what he taught. (cf. Matthew 10:14; 13:58)
Whatever it took to sow doubt about Jesus, they tried it – allegations and accusations involving racism, prejudice, and deliberate misinformation. They characterized him as exhibiting unlawful behavior and resorting to the prince of demons to cast out demons. A smear campaign by the top religious leaders was in full swing to intentionally misrepresent this meddler. They can’t let the public believe what Jesus said lest they would lose their country to the Romans. If dishonesty, lying, and ridicule had to be used to save their nation, so be it, for nothing was so important as saving Israel. Any means was excusable and justifiable. They had some success sowing doubt.
Jesus characterized these people as hypocrites (i.e. actors), full of greed and self-indulgence, and who appear righteous on the outside but on the inside are full of wickedness. These wolves in sheep clothing are revealed when they are indifferent to the despairing cries of sufferers who come to be healed on the Sabbath. They think, “if he [Jesus] were a prophet he would know this woman is a sinner.” Concern for the lost is far from their haughty minds, for their concern was only with points of doctrine as they taught it. Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits.” About them, Jesus commanded, “Watch out!” (Matthew 7:15)
The religious leaders had a different vision for how to love their country than Jesus. So, when Pontius Pilate presented them a choice for who they wanted released from arrest, either the innocent man, Jesus, or the one who committed murder for his country, Barabbas, they shouted to Pilate, “Barabbas!”
“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22)